PALM BEACH, Fla. – After national controversy over his calling a Georgetown University law student a “slut” and “prostitute,” radio giant Rush Limbaugh says he has brand-new sponsors lined up to advertise on his program, and some who had canceled are now asking to return.

“We have three brand-new sponsors that will be starting in the next two weeks,” Limbaugh said this afternoon, adding he was not going to identify them today.“Two of the sponsors who have canceled have asked to return.

We are being very careful about that. I’m not gonna give you any names here. One of them is practically begging to come back.”There have been reports among some news agencies that at least 40 advertisers have abandoned Limbaugh’s top-rated program since the furor involving Sandra Fluke’s push for insurance-covered birth control erupted last week, but Limbaugh said those news outlets are not being honest.

“Because they lie, and because they don’t understand how it works,” he said. “Everything is fine on the business side. Everything is cool. There is not a thing to worry about. Whatever you’re seeing on television about this program and sponsors and advertisers is just incorrect.”Limbaugh explained that sponsors on his program are both local and national.“We deal with the national sponsors on this program,” he said. “We have 600-plus stations. They sell their own commercials. We don’t have anything to do with those sponsors. We don’t get paid by those sponsors. We have no idea who those sponsors are.”Some of the national sponsors that previously announced their departure include AOL, ProFlowers,

Loans, mattress retailers Sleep Train and Sleep Number, software maker Citrix Systems, data-backup service provider Carbonite and online legal document services company LegalZoom.Limbaugh noted it’s an everyday practice for local sponsors to have their ads withheld whenever a controversy breaks out, whether it be on shows hosted by fellow radio broadcasters including Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and Howard Stern.

“They put out a notice to the stations [indicating], ‘By the way, for the time being, we don’t want our commercials run when Limbaugh is on.’ But they are not canceling their advertising on the station. They’re just saying they don’t want it running in my program during the local affiliate’s commercial time, not ours.”“These advertisers are not abandoning EIB…..